Guard
by tahz101
Summary: "6 months! You were away for 6 months!" he was desperate, he knew it was wrong, but she had been gone and she still wasn't back. sort of prequel to admire. co-written with fanfictioncaskett4
1. Chapter 1

Alright guys!

As promised here's the back story to the undercover op from Admire. You don't need to read admire, but this sorta ties in with chapter 2

* * *

"It's not just that Kate!" he exclaimed running a hand through his hair.

"Then what?" her face still unreadable but he saw the faintest glimmer of fear in her eyes, the way she flinched at his tone.

"6 months! You were away for 6 months! Do you know what that did to Alexis? What that did to me?" he didn't care that he was yelling or that she had begun to retreat away from him, he only wanted to see his Kate again. The care-free Kate that he had been with before this had all happened. The Kate he loved and had loved him back.

"I told you that it could take longer, I didn't say I would definitely be back in two or three weeks. You can't have everything your way Rick!" she knew it wasn't true. She knew that he knew it would take longer. But she didn't know why she was so upset, it was just another undercover op that went south.

Ok maybe a little more than south, but she is fine. She has to be.

...

"Beckett, can we talk for a second?" Montgomery asked Kate, his face serious and not giving anything away. Kate was a good detective, and the last thing he wanted to do was dump this on her shoulders.

Kate nodded and stood up, taking note of his stern expression before walking into his office,

"Close the door and take a seat, please" he motioned to the seat in front of him and walked behind his desk and sitting down.

"I'm fine standing, thanks captain" Kate replied while closing the door of the office and coming to a stand in front of his desk, her brow furrowing when she saw him staring at a case file.

"What did you want to talk about, captain?"

"About a new case"

"Case? Captain," confusion written over her face.

"A drug trafficking ring has been located-" he started

"what does that have to do with me, captain?" she asked interrupting him

"They've found three bodies who happen to be part of their 'gang' but in order to shut them down they need someone to go in undercover" he continued,

"And you want to send me in?" Kate said, the realization dawning down on her.

"It's up to you Beckett, I wouldn't be sending you in if I had a choice, but you are the best detective that I have, that I find is suitable for this op."

"When do I start?" Kate asked sighing, knowing Rick wasn't going to like this. Not going to like this at all.

...

"Your name for this operation is Nicole Fabray," He debriefed her, handing her the case file.

Kate gladly took it and starting scanning through the file, reading the details making sure she was familiar with some of the details of the ring. If she was going to be involved, she was going to have to change who she is.

"And what do I have to do exactly?" she asked trying to clarify whether or not she was going to become part of the ring or if she was just going to be a worker who just happens to start work there.

"We already have another undercover cop there, his name is Detective Scott Dale, you'll be posing as his girlfriend." Montgomery replied, his face firm, unreadable.

"how long sir?" Kate asked, almost too afraid to ask, in fear of what he would say.

"two to three months. But I can't guarantee that you'll be out in two or three months, from what I know Detective Dale has been undercover for a year."

Rick definitely wasn't going to be happy.

...

Montgomery gave her the rest of the day off, ordering her to go home familiarize herself with the case file, wanting her to be fully prepared and ready to start.

"You start on Sunday," he had told her before handing her the rest of the notes and dismissed her but not before adding, "And I want you to go home Beckett. I don't care what you want to do, this undercover op isn't going to be easy."

She sighed and nodded her head before walking out of his office and closing the door behind her.

Kate's head was going to explode, how was Rick going to react to the news. He handled her last undercover op well, he hadn't complained but he had wanted to argue with her.

Telling him was going to be hard but telling Alexis was going to be harder and more challenging, she loved Alexis, she didn't want to do this to her, but it was part of her job.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart down, hearing it beating rapidly. Rick knew what her job meant to her, he knew that this would happen again, she had told him from their very first date,

"Rick, I'm a detective," she had said, looking down at her lap. "I'm not just going to drop my work to do something else. I love my job, I love how I can help people, that's something I can't change."

Gathering all her courage she parked the car and got out. Taking the lift up to his floor. To their apartment.

She would tell them after dinner, even if that did mean missing out on dessert for one night.

...

"Hey! You're home," Rick exclaimed walking over to her giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before walking back to the kitchen.

"Kate!" another voice piped up, before Alexis made an appearance,

"Hey Alexis, have a good day at school?" Kate asked, walking to where they were in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I have a physics test tomorrow," she explained when Kate looked at the books littering the dining table.

Kate shuddered. "I never did like physics," she replied before walking into the kitchen, but Rick bumped her hip with his, "nuh-uh, I'm cooking tonight, go, sit with Alexis," he smiled at her kissing her forehead before turning back to the stove.

"So... Physics huh?" Kate asked peering at all the equations in her textbook.

"Yeah, not exactly what I want to be doing at the moment, but I really want to pass." she replied smiling at Kate before diving back into the equations.

...

She was lost in thought.

She really didn't want to do this to them, but it was part of her job description. They both knew that, they all knew that there was a high risk of her not coming home at all. They all knew about the risk.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked softly, rubbing his hand in soothing circles on her back,

"I have to go undercover again," she blurted out. Feeling his hand still on her back.

"Again? But you just came back from the other operation." he replied,

Oh, this was not going to go down well.

"Yeah again."

"What is it about this time?"

"Drug trafficking ring, another detective, Detective Scott Dale, has been undercover for a year and can't find a break."

"Drug trafficking ring? Kate, you can't be serious!"

"I won't be there alone! I have Dale there with me if I ever need the back up,"

"It's a drug trafficking ring, Kate. You're putting your life at risk," he argued back.

He wasn't having any of it. If last time was anything, this time would be worse.

"I put my life at risk everyday," she shot back, standing up,

"Yeah, but at least you have other people around you, it's not just you versus how ever many people there are in this ring."

"I won't be alone. I have Dale."

"Dale my ass!" he almost shouted, before realizing that Alexis was upstairs,

"I have no choice Rick, I start on Sunday," and she walked off. Shutting their bedroom door behind her.

…...

He couldn't believe it, she was going undercover again.

She had walked off making him think like all that was his fault, making him think she was upset because of him, and the only thing he was doing was being worried for her well-being.

He loved her for crying out loud. She was different to other women he'd dated. Very different.

He waited 10 minutes to calm down, and also to let Kate relax, he knew that she needed her space, it was the very first thing that stood out from her.

She was a private person, exactly the opposite to him and to some of his past dates.

But she needed to know that now it wasn't all about her anymore, it was about him and Alexis too. They were in her life now and that should count for something.

Before Rick went to back to their bedroom to try and reason with Kate, he stopped and looked at the stair case, waited a few seconds before walking up them to make sure Alexis hadn't heard any of their shouting. It would be Kate's decision to tell Alexis. Not his.

Walking back down the stairs he walked into the kitchen to have a cup of water to give Kate more time, knowing that she wouldn't be asleep.

Rick knocked a few times on the door and then without waiting any response he came in.

At first he didn't see anything, with the light off it was all dark and his eyes took a few minutes to get used to it, then he spotted Kate.

…...

She was laying on the bed looking towards the bathroom, with her back to the door. It happened again. They argued.

She didn't like arguing with him, but he should know that her job was important to her and she was pretty sure that he knew why her job was so important to her. That's what made him so different to the other guys that she had dated. She hadn't told him the full story behind her choice to become a detective, but he did know enough to not question her.

And that knowledge of him was one of the things that made her fall in love with him, knowing that he could read her so damn easily.

"Kate" he whispered softly to her, she didn't acknowledge him only looking at the bathroom. Her chest rising and falling.

He sighed and walked over to her, knowing that the only way to deal with this was to dive in head first. Even if it did end up with him sleeping outside on the couch.

He gently sat down on the bed next to her, gathering her up and pulling her into a hug, feeling her try to push him away, his grip on her tightened forcefully dragging her to him, not caring that he was the last person she wanted to see. The thing with Kate was that sometimes you needed to push her, sometimes you needed to get passed the gate and in order to do that you needed to forcefully shove against it and continue fighting it, sometimes she needed to be pushed and to be broken down in order to understand her and to get her to understand you.

"I didn't mean that I didn't trust you enough, I trust you Kate, I really do." he tried to explain himself rubbing soft circles on her back, feeling her tense up and try to pull away. But he wasn't having any of it.

"but..." she replied, there was always a 'but'

"A year Kate! Do you know how long that is!" he tried not to shout to loud, but only succeed with raising his voice.

"I won't be undercover for that long" she argued back, giving in and resting her head against his shoulder.

"But what if you are?"

"I won't" her voice slightly raised and agitated

He sighed, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. "When do you start?"

"Wednesday"

"But that's tomorrow!" his voice trying to fight the shock and the anger at being told about this at such a short notice.

"I have no choice Rick, it's either shut the ring down or let more people be killed," and she stood up making her way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

...

Kate swallowed as she turned to face the mirror. Her hair was blonde.

She shivered as she remembered the last time she had dyed her hair blonde.

But now she had to concentrate on her job, to concentrate on making sure she would and will come back home. Safely. She reassured herself that all was going to go well, and that in 2 or 3 months she would be back with Rick and Alexis.

'Alexis!' she remembered, jumping a little, she hadn't told her yet about her going undercover again. It wasn't because she wanted to hide it from her, it was because she didn't know how to tell her.

But she preferred to tell Alexis herself and not let Rick have to do deal with the issue or someone else, and she hoped that she would be more understanding and hoped that it didn't affect her too much.

...

Kate quietly crept out of their bedroom and into the kitchen, only to bump into Alexis, who was sitting at the table eating her breakfast, but had turned to look at Kate upon seeing the brunette detective walk out of the bedroom with blonde hair.

"Kate?" Alexis asked, confused

"Alexis! I didn't think you'd be up yet," Kate jumped a little bit and turned around to face Alexis. Who was looking at her weirdly.

Kate realized that she had yet to explain to her about her undercover op.

"I have to go undercover again," she said simply waiting for the teenagers response

"Again? As a blonde?" Alexis questioned

"Yeah, I want to make sure that they won't be able to recognize me, going blonde seemed a good start." Kate explained coming to sit next to her.

"Does dad know?"

"Yeah, he knows" Kate replied sighing

"I'm guessing he didn't take it well,"

"he understands... Now" Kate answered back, before standing up again and giving the girl a hug,

"How long will you be away for?" Alexis asked, seeing the strain in Kate's face she knew she wasn't going to like the answer,

"Montgomery thinks maybe 2-3 months but he isn't sure, for all he knows it could take up to 6 months," Kate sighed running a hand through her hair giving it a disapproving look before smiling at Alexis and kissing her forehead before walking out the door, taking one last look at the house, knowing that it would be a long time before she would be seeing the house again.

* * *

fanfictioncaskett4 and I talked about this fic and well, we did want this to be a one shot, but when we started writing it we realized that if we were to write a one shot it would so long it would probably end up like the neverending story!

So we talked and decided that we would split it into three parts,

fanfictioncaskett4 and tahz101


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Nikki!" Karl smirked at her, his hand coming round to wrap around her waist and yanked her down onto his lap, not so gently,

"Hey! Keep your hands off of her! She's mine!" Jason, aka. Detective Scott Dale, shouted at Karl, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her up, his hand coming to rest gently on her back.

"Oh,come on Jase, I was only going to have a bit of fun," he smirked back at Dale, standing up and grabbing Kate's hand again.

Nothing in her entire life could have prepared her for this operation. The Cove was brutal.

She had no idea how she had managed to survive all the whistles and all the beatings she had gone through. Dale had done his best to protect her, but there were something's that he couldn't stop. It was part of his cover anyway, there was only so much he could do and so much he couldn't.

The past two months had been brutal for her. She was still in shock from what had happened the previous few nights that she had to force herself not to flinch when Karl grabbed her hand. Since she arrived, she had had to build a steel iron gate and lock it twice to make sure she left the old Kate behind. This was Nicole Fabray, who happened to be some what of a slave for 'the cove'. There had been some points where she had wanted to beat the members to death but knew she couldn't, partly because of her cover but mainly because of Dale's cover. He had been in on their drug dealings for a year now and the last thing she wanted was for them to turn around and kill Dale. From what she had learnt from reading Dale's file, he was a trustworthy and a very kind hearted man. The last thing she wanted was to get him killed.

…

"Yeah, we all know how you have fun Karl" Dale put Kate behind him to prevent Karl from trying to grab her hand again.

Kate was sure that if this op wasn't so important, Dale would have already given a beating to all those guys, but making sure that the last one would be Karl, letting him suffer through having to watch his men go down. One by one. Till only he was left.

For now Karl seemed to decide he wasn't going to get what he wanted and sat down again, but this time beside a woman with dark hair who seemed to enjoy his presence more than Kate or Dale did.

Kate thought about Rick and Alexis every day, thinking about what they would be doing at the time. She was sure that right now he would be thinking about her, even though she had told him that she most likely be undercover 2 or 3 months, she had already been undercover for 2 months, and they weren't even near closing the case, or getting a break in the cove.

...

Rick was agitated. Oh boy was he ever.

It has been 2 months, 2 very lonely months. 2 months without Kate. He didn't know how he had survived, but most of all he didn't know if she was alright or even still alive.

He had managed of keep his cool around Alexis, he knew he had to keep calm around her. The last thing he wanted was for her to find him drunk or for him to snap at her for no reason.

"Hey dad!" Alexis said smiling at her dad, coming over to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey pumpkin," he replied turning his body so he could give her a hug.

"You ok?" she had been asking him this question for the past 2 months making sure he was ok, and making sure that he didn't go out and do something silly or worse something to get himself thrown in jail.

"I'm fine pumpkin, nothing a hug can't fix," he smiled at her before standing up and walking into the kitchen, "Pancakes?" he asked.

Alexis smiled and nodded before walking over to help him.

...

Kate bit her lip. Hard. Groaning an agony as another punch was thrown at her ribs.

"How do you like that bitch?" Karl snarled before grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground, kicking her in the stomach over and over and over again.

Kate held her breath and bit her tongue. She knew that the last thing she wanted to do was speak and get twice the beating she was receiving.

"I don't see what Jason sees in you, all I see is worthless junk. You're probably only with him because of his money." He snarled before grabbing her by the hair again and throwing her against the wall.

Kate tried to push the scream back, she tried, she really did but it just came gurgling up. She closed her mouth but it still came out. It still forced her mouth open, and forced it's way out.

"Yeah, that's right you scream, but there isn't anyone here that will take notice of it. For all they know you're just having a little bit of fun with me down he-" Karl didn't get to finish his sentence when a fist came flying out of nowhere and landed in his face, knocking him back.

He stumbled but before he could do anything, arms came around and held him in a headlock.

She knew that hold. Blocking the air to the brain, made the person black out and faint.

Karl slumped forward and was thrown down. The person who had punched him came into her view, but the blood running down her forehead and into her eyes blocked her from seeing who it was,

"Nicole? Hey it's alright I've got you," Dale quickly walked over to her, scooping her up in his arms before walking out of the room. Turning back to make sure that Karl really was indeed unconscious, before turning and walking out of the room. Shutting the door and locking it behind him.

...

Kate was in agony.

She really was in pure agony. But she had been pushing everything aside, all the pain, all the hurt, all the hatred, even pushing herself to the side, making and forcing herself to forget about her old self.

She winced when Dale held the cloth to her forehead.

"Sorry," he said gently wiping away the blood.

"Has it always been like this?" she asked him, holding the cloth to her left arm, adding pressure to it, stopping the blood from oozing out.

"Not until the last 6 months. He almost killed the other girl, the others think there's something wrong with Karl, he never used to be like this," he said,

Kate shifted in her seat wincing again as he added the alcohol to her forehead and her arm, throwing the cloth into the bin.

"I guess we're gonna have to find out what changed him," Kate replied, standing up brushing herself down before crashing down to the ground in pain.

She shrugged of his look of concern at her, "Ribs are sore that's all, give me a hand" she asked, grinning "no pun intended,"

He grinned back before stooping down and helping her to the bed, turning off the light and allowing her to sleep.

What the hell had Karl gotten himself into?

…

When Kate woke up and tried to stand up, her ribs resisted screaming at her to stay lying down on the mattress again. She didn't know what she was going to do, if she couldn't even stand up, how was supposed to even walk?

She decided to take a few deep breaths to make the pain she was feeling go away. It helped enough to let her stand up and walk a few steps, and then she had to stop and take another few deep breaths to continue. She hoped that the pain would go away during the day.

"Maybe if I take some aspirin, it won't hurt so much" she thought, and decided to go looking for Dale to ask him if he knew where she could get some aspirin.

Dale still had his look of concern but with these past moths he had learnt that she was a strong woman. And not judge her just from her looks.

"Hey Nicole are you feeling better? Dale asked turning to look at her,

He hadn't expected her to be up he had thought that maybe she would of stayed all day sleeping or just lounging around in her room, but he knew that if he proposes that to her she would refuse and stare him down.

"Better, but do you know where I can find some aspirin?" she asked trying to smile to make Dale believe that she wasn't that badly injured.

But she knew she wasn't fooling anyone, especially when she winced when she went to go and sit down.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked again handing her a glass of water along with some aspirin.

Kate smiled in thanks and quickly swallowed them before lying down on the couch, ignoring her ribs as the screamed at her to sit up again.

...

"Come on Dad! We're going out today!" Alexis yelled, grabbing her coat and her dad's coat, before walking into her dad's study room, his coat in her arms.

What she saw made her smile in relief, she shook her head before making her way over to her dad.

He was fast asleep, his head resting on the table, laptop next to him with the words 'you should be writing' scrolling through. Alexis silently shut the laptop and put a small cloth under her dad's head so it would be more comfortable for him when he woke up.

It had been months since she had seen him have avoid nights sleep. She knew it was partly because Kate had left that morning without so much as a goodbye from him, but she had understood why she hadn't. Kate had a job to do and sometimes her dad did manage to convince Kate to do things that even the detective didn't know she was capable of.

Alexis chuckled when she remembered the day her dad had managed to convince Kate to stay home and call in sick.

...

"Hey Jason! You seen Karl any where?" Ben walked up to Dale, clapping him on the back in a meeting before turning to look at Kate and smiling at her before walking over to her and giving her a hug. "Hey Nikki! You haven't seen Karl have you?"

Kate stiffened, her ribs screamed at her, yelling at her to stop and turn into a different position but Kate pushed on and managed to return the hug, but she still winced a little and saw from the corner of her eye, Dale shoot her a look of concern before turning back to Ben.

When Ben let go of Kate, he heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Are you okay Nikki?" Ben asked looking at Kate with a little bit of concern. Ben was a good man, as far as Kate knew about him, he hadn't tried to kill anyone like Karl, he had a heart of pure gold. Sometimes he did make stupid choices, but who hasn't? But what Kate didn't understand was why he was working with Karl in this drug ring, she thought that Ben could do a better 'job' somewhere else, somewhere where he wasn't required to do anything violent, even if she didn't consider the drug ring as a job, it was crime.

…

Rick woke up almost screaming.

Again, he had had a nightmare, like every night since Kate left for her undercover op. It was because of this that he couldn't sleep at nights; the only way he could sleep without any nightmares was to drink his loss and his sorrows away, but he wouldn't do it, for Alexis. He had to be strong for her, she couldn't afford to lose him now.

All his nightmares were the same; Kate not coming back home, instead one of her colleagues would show up at his door telling him that she hadn't made it, that she had been murdered as a consequence of getting of close to the killer. And he wasn't sure he could live without her, but he had to be strong for Alexis and for himself.

He had to be strong for Kate.

She needed him more than he needed himself. She may not be there with him right now, but he could feel her lips on his neck, her scent was still on him. It made him feel more at ease, knowing that she was close by, even if she actually wasn't near by, but her scent and the memory of her was enough for him to pick himself up and walk out of his study room, putting on a smiling face for his daughter, knowing that the last thing he needed was to look weak and vulnerable around Alexis or put extra weight on her, with having of look after him as well.

...

"I'm fine Ben" Kate managed to wheeze out before crashing to the ground, her body too weak from the beating she had received from Karl.

"Nikki? Sweetheart? Nikki, you're going to be ok, alright? I need you to stay awake ok? I need you to stay awake for me." she could hear Dale's voice talking to her, his hand on hers, squeezing it, trying to give her some comfort.

"Holy- Jase, you seen this?" Ben asked pointing at Kate's ribs, where her shirt had ridden up her body, at her attempt to maneuver her body into a more comfortable position.

"Yeah," Dale replied, his voice sounding grim, as Kate struggled to stay awake, but only just holding on, as thoughts of Rick and Alexis flooded her mind. His scent and his voice invading her, whispering in her ear, flooding her nose, telling her not to give in yet. It wasn't her time to go. She still had a full life ahead of her, a life with Rick, Alexis and her father.

"Who did this?" Ben's voice interrupted Kate's thoughts. Dale kept silent, knowing if he mentioned Karl he might get turned against.

"Jase. Who did this?" Ben asked again, Dale's silence must have caught his attention.

"It's nothing," Dale tried to brush it off, all the while still holding Kate's hand and softly stroking it, trying to keep her calm and not letting her feel like she was on her own.

"It's not nothing when you're girlfriend is attacked, Jase." Ben kept pushing. That was when she felt the air around her shift. Ben seemed to have moved a little closer to her, putting an ice pack on her ribs and what sounded like a dialing tone from a phone.

"Did Karl do this?" he almost whispered, letting Dale take over the icing, knowing that he would want to be the one and the only one to be touching her.

"Things just can't get any better," Kate thought to herself when she heard Ben making a begged and she prayed hoping that he hadn't called Karl, the last thing she wanted was to get another beating from him.

The next thing Kate heard was "911, what is your emergency"

She sighed, Ben had a good heart and this just proved to her that he could make his own choices and make the right ones.

For now, just listening to Rick's voice and picturing him and Alexis was the only thing keeping her alive and keeping for just giving into the darkness that was just a fingernail away.

She was trying to stay awake. She knew she might not make it all the way, but she had made a promise to Rick, and no matter how much she hated promises and how easy they were to break, she knew she had to keep this promise. For Rick, for Alexis and for her Dad. She couldn't do this to him. She couldn't bear to leave him with no one, leave him to go back to his alcoholic ways again. If she left, who was going to look after him?

But the darkness was consuming her, was drawing her closer. And before she knew it, it had fully consumed her.

...

Now Dale was starting to panic. He didn't know if Karl had managed to get himself out of the basement, as easy as it was to lock someone down there, it was just as easy to escape from.

But he knew one thing for sure, he wasn't going to let Karl near her. Even if he died trying to keep her safe. From what he'd been told by Montgomery, her captain, she had already gone through enough that could break her into a million pieces.

But she was strong. Hell she was stronger than any other detective he had worked with, but he could see that deep down she was a dynamite ready to explode.

And Karl might just be the thing that sets that dynamite off.

...

The next thing Kate saw when she opened her eyes were the white walls surrounding her.

Kate gently sat up and looked around her, before realizing where she was.

Hospital, she shivered, she never liked hospitals. The last time she had been at a hospital was when her father had an alcohol overdose and had thrown a beer bottle at her. From that point onwards, he never touched alcohol. She remembered the look of shock and how he had kept apologizing, trying to seek her forgiveness and her understanding.

Kate looked around a bit more before seeing a pile of clothes just to her right. So Kate got out of her bed silently and grabbed the pile of clothes, and quickly got changed.

...

When Kate set foot outside the hospital she quickly took her phone out of her jacket pocket and called Dale.

"Hey Jase, can you come to the hospital and give me a ride back?" Kate wasn't sure if someone would be spying on her, so to be sure she decided not to call Dale by his real name, but by his cover name.

"Hey Nikki, yeah, I will be there in 5 minutes, did the doctor dismiss you already?" Dale asked hoping that maybe if Kate stayed on the hospital for just 2 days taking some rest, he could be sure that Karl couldn't do anything to her.

"Yeah, they just gave me some pain killers and let me go" she was sure that Dale knew she was lying, but if he knew her past with hospitals he would understand, like Rick does. At the mention of Rick she started thinking about Rick and Alexis again, what it would lid would be like. She was glad they weren't here. The last thing she needed was for them to be worrying about her 24/7

"Okay, then I'll be there in 10 minutes, 15 max" Dale knew that she was lying because

when she arrived at the hospital with her, the doctors told him that she would have to spend a few days resting her ribs which had almost broke and if she had been admitted in a little later, they would have broken from the constant day to day movements and could have possibly punctured her lungs.

...

Ben was furious. He thought Karl had learnt the last time this had happened to one of the other girls.

If Karl thought he could keep bashing girls up, then so be it. But he was going to get a taste of his own medicine, even if it came around in 15 years from now.

...

Karl was whirling around, "Where'd that bitch go?" he was muttering under his breath. She was pretty. She deserved to look prettier. Especially if he could mark her. Make her his. Take her from Jason, she deserved better and he would be there, be there for her own good.

...

"Are you sure you're ok?" Dale asked for what was like the hundredth time.

"I'm fine Dale! Seriously, relax, it's not like I'm going to suddenly drop dead all of a sudden," she snapped back. She knew she shouldn't have snapped, but it was annoying her how every time she moved he was right the hovering over her, making sure she wasn't in any discomfort.

"Last time you almost did" he muttered softly, but her ears heard him. She sent him a glare before stepping out of his car and following him into the building.

...

Karl smirked when he saw her walking out of the elevator. He didn't care that Jason was right there, he only had eyes for Nicole. He could see that she was still had a little bit of a limp, but all that did was fuel the firey need for her in his mind.

…..

"Kate!" Rick screamed in his dream, making him jolt awake.

He was sweaty, but for some reason he wasn't sure that was a nightmare, it was seem so real.

In his dream Kate had been lying on the floor and was very badly injured.

He was trying to get that image away of his mind, and he started to think about when Kate spent the days with him and Alexis, how much fun they had.

In that moment he thought about Alexis, maybe she had heard him scream or something, but when he looked at the clock it was 12:14 am, And knew Alexis wasn't home yet. The advantages of sleepovers, he mustered to himself.

…

"Hey Nikki" Karl smirked at her, but Kate's face was far from a smile or any emotion of joy.

She was a little afraid of this man, but thought that maybe being with Dale in that moment Karl wouldn't do anything to her, for now.

But that was about to change. Before Kate could even do anything or even scream, Karl and lunged at her, wrapping his arms around her neck and throwing her against the door.

The sheer force of the blow had the door swinging open and he not so carefully dragged her into the room slamming the door shut before Dale could do anything but scratch at the door.

* * *

Ok, so it was a bit of a time jump, but... when fanfictioncaskett4 and I originally wrote this chapter we knew that we would have to split it up, it just became ridiculously long, so we've split it and the next chapter should be up by either Sunday or maybe tomorrow...

Don't forget to send us a review! :)))

Fanfictioncaskett4 and Tahz101


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